


Young hearts

by stanaabanana



Category: Castle
Genre: College, F/F, Friendship, young Castle and Beckett
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 10:06:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2146686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stanaabanana/pseuds/stanaabanana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Kate Beckett has escaped New York for the opposite coast - it's her first year at Stanford, where she meets a playboy womaniser called Rick Rodgers. Sparks fly but Kate does her best to ignore them - but how long will she be able to keep it up for? "Apparently I don't look like a Kate but do I really look like an idiot?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Here's to the good times

"Well, I guess this is it then," Jim said, hauling the last of his daughters bags out of the car. "Would you believe it, my little Katie bug all ready for college!"

"Stop it, dad," Kate blushed, ducking her head.

"Oh sweetie, you know we're just so proud of you," her mother supplied with a warm smile, "we know how hard you've worked to get yourself where you are and going to Stanford is a huge deal - and you're our only child, this is the only chance we're going to get to drop our kid off at college you know!"

"I'm going to miss you," Kate whispered, raising her head just enough to meet her mothers eyes. "And you too," she added, glancing over at her dad.

"We're going to miss you too, honey," her father said, "but we're at the end of the telephone if you want to call and New York is only six hours from here on a plane, we can be here in an instant if you need us."

"Which you won't," Johanna interrupted loudly, with a reprimanding look at her husband. "You'll be absolutely fine, you're going to make some amazing friends and have a brilliant time - just don't get too caught up in the partying, your classes are important too!"

"And no boys," he dad added, which was met with eye rolls from both his daughter and his wife. "Right, well I guess we better leave you to it, let you get settled into your room."

This was the moment Kate had been dreading, the goodbye to her parents, she wasn't going to see them again until thanksgiving and right now that seemed like ages away. But she was eighteen now, needed to learn to stand on her own two feet and make her own way in the world. It's why she had chosen Stanford, not only had she worked her ass off to get the grades, it was a far enough distance for her to make her own life and not be constantly looked over by her parents. She loved them to pieces but being an only child had made her a little spoilt, always having the attention of her parents and it was time she got used to not having them there 24/7, she was an adult now.

"Bye daddy," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around her fathers neck. "I'll call in a few days, okay, when I've settled in and found my way around a bit." Her father gave her one last squeeze before handing her over to her mother.

"Bye honey," Johanna whispered and the hitch in her voice almost sent Kate into tears. "Be safe, okay? And call when you can, and make loads of friends and work hard and-"

"I get it, mom," Kate laughed. "Now you two go, spend your last night in California celebrating the fact that after eighteen years you have your house back!"

"We'll see you in a couple of months," they promised before heading back into the car and driving off with one last wave.

Right then Katherine Beckett, time to stand on your own two feet and find out where the hell you're supposed to be going right now.

"Hey," a voice said from the doorway, "I'm Lanie Parish, it take it we're roommates?"

Kate looked up to see a young woman entering the room, probably around the same age as Kate herself. The room had been empty when Kate had arrived, but there were two beds so Kate knew she would be expecting someone else soon. "Hi," she smiled warmly. "I'm Kate Beckett and if you're in room 247 then yeah, looks like we're roommates."

"Cool," Lanie replied, hauling her stuff into the room. "Man, this is crazy, I can't believe I'm finally at college!"

"Me either," Kate agreed, "it's all so surreal. You from around here or have you've flown the nest, so to speak?"

"Nah, I'm from Brooklyn, New York, wanted to get as far away from home as possible - and here I am! What about you?" Lanie was piling clothes from her suitcase onto her bed now, preparing to get them put away. Kate had just finished and was wondering what she could do when Lanie walked in.

"Manhattan," she laughed, "crazy, we live in the same city and yet end up meeting on the opposite side of the country!" It had only been ten minutes but Kate was sure she was going to get on well with her roommate already, which was good, the last thing she wanted was a pageant queen who always stunk the room out with hairspray or something. "What're you studying?"

"I'm pre-med," Lanie said with a grimace. "My momma wasn't best pleased, if she had it her way I'd be married by the time I was 20 and have three kids by 25. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course but ya know..it's not me!"

"Wow, pre-med and at Stanford, your mother must be proud, right?"

"Oh yeah, I think she is, first in my family to go to college but I still think she would have preferred it if I chose Columbia or somewhere a little closer to home. Now, I would ask what you're studying but with an accent like yours and knowing you're from Manhattan I'm going to take a wild guess at pre-law?"

"Got it in one," Kate laughed. "You want some help?" She offered, nodding towards Lanie's remaining bags, she felt a little rude sitting there and not helping.

"Oh er..yeah..if you want," Lanie shrugged, "thanks."

"No worries, it'll get done quicker if there's two of us. So, are you one of those that's going to be at parties every night or do you prefer quiet nights in?"

"A bit of both I guess," Lanie replied as they folded her clothes into drawers. "I mean, with my course I'm going to be pretty busy and that's my main priority - can't have my momma saying 'I told you so' when it all goes wrong! But it's college after all, you've gotta party sometime!"

Kate was relieved, she loved a party as much as the next person but she was serious about her studies too, she was determined to make her parents proud of her. "Same," she admitted. "And I'm happy to have nights in with a pizza, watching a sappy chick flic!"

"Oh girl, I can tell now that this is going to be just right!" Lanie exclaimed as the finished her unpacking. "Now what do you say we go and have a look around, see what talent this place has to offer?" She said with a wink and Kate laughed, breathing a sigh of relief that she wasn't completely alone in this place.

A whole week had passed since Kate had arrived at Stanford, she couldn't believe how quick it was going. She'd had introductions to some of her courses during the week and she could tell she was going to enjoy the majority of them immensely, she always looked forward to expanding her knowledge and learning new things. Her and Lanie had become fast friends, meeting each other for lunch in their free time and spending the evenings together too, sometimes with the company of some of the others from their dorm building - the two girls next door were lovely and the two guys from across the hall seemed friendly enough too.

Kate had called home on Thursday, reassuring her parents that she was perfectly fine and that she was enjoying herself. She'd told them about Lanie and a couple of the people she'd met in her first few days and they seemed relieved that she was making friends. Honestly, you'd think she hadn't had any back in New York the way her parents seemed to be worried about it.

Tonight was Saturday and Lanie had told her about a party going on just down the street, some frat boy having a celebration for another year at college or something, they weren't really bothered about the reason but it was a good opportunity to meet some new people and figure out what was good around here. Neither of them had had a chance to get to any parties during the week, both of them so exhausted at the end of the day that they'd collapsed into bed and spent the night talking and laughing until they fell asleep.

"Which top?" Kate asked, exasperated. She'd done her hair, applied her make up and pulled on her favourite jeans, but couldn't for the life of her decide which shirt to wear.

"The green one," Lanie said, sparing half a second to look at the choices before returning to her make up.

"Lanie, you didn't even look!" Kate whined.

"Yeah I did," Lanie argued, "and the green one will bring out your eyes."

The green one it was then.

"That's Rick Rodgers," Amy, one of the girls from the room next to Kate and Lanie shouted into Kate's ear to be heard above the loud music. "I've heard about him, he's a senior, always with a different girl every week, sometimes three or four at once. Famous for flirting with anything with a pulse and the worst thing is the girls just don't seem to care that they're not the only one he's seeing." Amy sounded disgusted with this Rick's behaviour and Kate made a mental note to stay away from him. The last thing she wanted was to end associated with the college Hugh Hefner.

The party was everything Kate and Lanie had expected a college frat party to be, loud music, girls stumbling around drunk, drinks being served in red cups and guys trying to get the attention of as many girls as possible. But still, it was all about the college experience and this party had it in spades. Kate had lost Lanie about half an hour ago, her roommate disappearing with a cute guy to the corner of the room somehwere.

Plenty of guys had tried their luck with Kate but she wasn't looking for a quick hook up, especially not one that wouldn't really be worth her time once the guy fell asleep or puked up due to too much alcohol. Still, she drank and danced the night away, enjoying letting her hair down and having a little fun. She'd not really done this much back home, not properly, anyway. Sure, she'd been to her share of college parties but that was usually with the grunge rocker she'd been dating at the time and they weren't really her kind of people, more of a rebellious action to get at her father. So this was fun, this was what it meant to be young and carefree and not have to worry about curfews or being too loud when she made herself a cheese toastie at three in the morning.

"Do you wanna dance?" A voice came from behind her and she whirled around to find herself face to face with a rather impressive looking chest, what she could make out of it from behind the t-shirt it's owner was currently wearing, anyway. Her eyes darted upwards towards the face of the voice and she had to suppress a grin - looked like Amy had been right, Rick Rodgers was currently stood in front of her, looking at her with a cocky grin on his face, ignoring the rather obvious 'come and get me' looks from plenty of other females in the room.

"Er no, thank you," she replied, turning to walk away from him but he caught her arm.

"Hey," he called, frowning slightly. "What did I do?"

"Nothing," she replied, ignoring the butterflies that had appeared low in her abdomen when he looked at her with those incredibly blue eyes.. "Just..I wouldn't want to keep you.." She told him, pointedly looking around at the various girls waiting for their turn with the famous Rick Rodgers.

"Sweetheart, with a body like yours you can keep me all night."

Ugh, cocky bastard. "All night?" She repeated. "Sure you can go for that long?"

Rick just stared at her, a mixture of confusion and admiration on his face. She'd hazard a guess that he wasn't used to being so blatantly turned down by girls, they probably fell at his feet as he walked through campus.

Kate resisted the urge to pull away as he leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. "Honey, I'll have you know my stamina is more than up to the job."

Jesus Christ who did this guy think he was? "I'll take your word for it," she muttered. "And if you turn around, you'll see that there's more than enough girls just waiting for you to prove to them that you can go all night so why don't you trot on over there and leave me alone."

"You haven't even told me your name," he protested, not moving an inch.

"And I'm sure you can sleep tonight without knowing."

"Kate!" Lanie called, "there you are! Just letting you know that I'm heading- oh, hi," she smiled, realising that Kate was currently mid conversation. "I'm Lanie," she introduced herself, holding out her hand to Rick.

"Rick Rodgers," he announced, "a pleasure to meet you."

"You too," Lanie smiled. "Kate, I'll see you tomorrow," she added with a wink before disappearing into the crowd of people.

"So, Kate, huh?"

Perfect timing, Lanie. "Yes," she sighed.

"Hmm..never would have pegged you as a Kate..something more exotic would suit you I think..."

For crying out loud, the guy had at least ten girls just waiting for him to flash his million dollar smile at them and yet he was stood here contemplating what she should be called.

"Yeah..anyway..I'm gonna go.." She announced, turning on her heel and heading for the door. She made it as far as the end of the driveway before a voice called out to her.

"What, I'm not even going to get your number?"

She turned back and saw Rick stood on the doorstep, a grin on his face. "Apparently I don't look like a Kate but do I really look like an idiot?" She replied before sauntering away, failing to keep the grin off of her face.

Rick was confused and intrigued by Kate, she was different and as he watched her ass as she strode away from him, he knew for sure that he wanted to get to know her just a little better.


	2. Call me, maybe

She was beautiful.

The way her smile was so wide it took up half of her face, lighting up those gorgeous eyes in the process; the way she flicked her hair over her shoulder without really noticing what she was doing, of the effect she had on him - and a few other males in the crowded cafeteria. They hadn't gone unnoticed by Rick, how at least a dozen guys had turned to watch her as she walked in half an hour ago to join her friend, Lanie he thought was her name, the same friend she'd been with at the party four nights ago.

Four nights since they'd met, four nights since she'd turned him down and brushed him off like a speck of dust on an old pair of jeans. But still, he hadn't been able to get her out of his mind since that night, his dreams flooded with images of this beautiful, captivating mystery who had grabbed his attention the second he'd seen her dancing in that living room. Since Sunday morning he'd looked for her everywhere he'd gone, hoping to perhaps bump into her around campus or in the library but he'd had no luck - until now.

Rick had been in the cafeteria for about twenty minutes when he saw her walk in, his attention immediately dropping from the blonde in front of him, Emily was her name..or maybe it was Erica..oh whatever, it's not like he cared anyway, girls like her were a dime a dozen around here, but Kate..Kate was different. Perhaps it had something to do with her bad ass attitude and quite obvious disgust for the way he lived his life but Rick couldn't deny that he was smitten and he knew he'd work his ass off to get her one way or another, once he turned on the famous Rodgers charm she just wouldn't be able to resist him.

He also wouldn't deny that he had felt a little pang of jealousy when he saw a fair few other heads turn in Kate's direction as she entered and made her way to the table Lanie was currently sat at, and especially not when she greeted a tall, blonde guy with a kiss on the cheek when he made his way over to say hi. As far as Rick was concerned that girl was his and he'd be damned if he let anyone else have her.

"Hey baby, what do you say we get together tonight..I've got a chemistry test I really need to study for.." Erica or Emily or Eva was purring into his ear. Baby? Ugh.

"Sorry, I'm an English major, no good at chemistry," he responded distractedly, without taking his eyes off of Kate, hoping the blonde would get the hint and leave him alone. Luck was on his side - he heard her sigh and mumble something about "what does she have that I don't" before disappearing off to find some other guy to harass.

It had been fun at first, getting girls easily and always having company but the novelty was definitely starting to wear off, the way he could just walk into a party and have five girls on his arm in an instant was honestly getting a little boring. Rick wanted excitement. Something new and interesting..a challenge - and boy was Kate going to be a challenge, but as he heard the tinkle of her laughter ring through his ears from her table, he was damn sure it was going to be the best reward he'd ever gotten.

"So, how's second week going for you girls?" Adam asked as he joined Lanie and Kate at their table. He lived across the hall from them with his roommate - and boyfriend - and they had both made friends with the girls the day after they'd moved in.

"Pretty good," Kate replied first, taking a sip of her water. "It's busy and full on but I'm really enjoying it so far, there's just so much to take in!"

"Tell me about it," Lanie laughed, "I don't know how people have time to party every night, I'm ready for bed straight after I've eaten dinner at the moment!"

"You'll get used to it," Adam told them. He was a junior, majoring in Political Science so he knew firsthand the shock of the workload straight off the bat. It had been crazy for him too at first but you soon get used to it, work out a way to balance all your assignments and projects and still have time to have a bit of a social life. "What about the guys, seen anybody interesting yet?" He asked with a grin.

"Well..Kate met somebody interesting at the party we went to on Saturday night," Lanie answered with a mischievous grin. She hadn't completely ignored the exchange between Rick and her friend the other night, she might have been a little distracted and on her way out but anybody could have sensed the tension between those two, it was almost electric.

"Er, no I didn't," Kate argued. "And besides, I wasn't the one who spent the majority of the night with my tongue down some guys throat."

Lanie simply shrugged. "I'm eighteen and at college, it's called having fun."

"Okay, now this I have to hear," Adam laughed. He'd been watching the conversation between the two of them and he hadn't missed the faint blush that had appeared on Kate's cheeks when Lanie mentioned her meeting someone. "So, who is he, Kate?"

"He's nobody," Kate replied defiantly. "Just some jumped up asshole who thinks girls should fall at his feet and worship the ground he walks on."

"Rick Rodgers," Lanie and Adam said at the same time.

"How on earth did you you know that?" Kate asked.

"The way you described him," Adam shrugged. "You strike me as the kind who isn't impressed easily and especially not when it comes to jumped up assholes. And besides, you're hot, Rodgers was bound to try it on at some point. You'll probably be next, Lanie."

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that," Lanie grinned, "in the half an hour since Kate walked in here, I've seen Rick brush off some blonde tart, not once taking his eyes off of Kate."

Kate blushed and her eyes widened. "You're making it up," she said, desperately hoping she was right, it would just be her luck to attract the attention of the college playboy.

"On no I'm not," Lanie said, raising her hand in a wave before motioning for Rick to come and join them. "And lover boy is on his way over right this second."

"Lanie," Kate hissed, "I swear to god you-"

"Hey girls," came the voice of Rick Rodgers as he appeared from behind Kate and took the seat next to her. Brilliant, just what she wanted right now. "And how are you today?"

"Great!" Lanie exclaimed whilst Kate simply muttered "fine."

"I don't think we've met," Rick said politely to Adam before introducing himself.

Kate didn't know what to do. On one hand, she could stand up and leave, make her excuses and pretend she had somewhere to be - but Lanie knew that wasn't true and Kate wouldn't put it past her to point that out and make her look like and idiot in front of Rick. Not that she was bothered about that per se, it was more the fact that she didn't want Rick cottoning onto the fact that he affected her like he did, the last thing she wanted was for him to think it was because of him that she wanted to leave because she knew he'd read more into it and take it as confirmation that she was interested. Which she wasn't. At all.

So her other option was to sit here and listen to the conversation Lanie was making with Rick, whilst his knee was pressed against hers under the table. She tried desperately to ignore the butterflies once again but it was damn near impossible, the guy was hot, she could admit that and she wasn't completely unaffected by the whole bad boy thing he had going on. But getting involved with a guy like that was not an option, he would be a waste of her time and it would only end badly when he moved on to the next girl anyway so why would she put herself through that?

When she was fifteen she'd made a promise to herself that she'd never be one of 'those girls', the kind that spends their time hoping to catch the attention of the high school quarterback or whatever, the popular jock that everyone wanted to be with and she'd done well, she'd dated a bit in high school, nothing serious but they were nice guys, guys who didn't mess her about and she had fun with. She had hoped this could transpire to college too, but with the way she was affected by the slightest of touches from Rick she was beginning to think it might not be so easy this time.

The 'look at me I'm so amazing' showing off thing had never done it for her before but now..well, living in a new state didn't seem to be the only noticeable change in her life.

"You're very quiet today, Kate," Rick noted. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Perfect, thank you," she replied politely, cursing internally as she felt herself blush. Jesus Christ why was she like a fourteen year old with a crush? Just because a guy was showing her a bit of attention didn't mean she needed to freak out, it's not like it hadn't happened before..she wouldn't exactly describe herself as overly attractive but she thought she was okay looking. Of course she had hang ups, certain parts of her body that she disliked but so did everybody, it was just part of being a girl. But still, she'd had boyfriends at school, had guys stare at her as she walked past all dressed up, beep at her from their cars as she walked down the street, so why was it such a big deal that this guy in particular was showing her some attention?

It's because you don't want to want him, the voice inside her head answered for her. Dammit. She didn't want him, not at all. Liar.

"Right, well it was lovely speaking with you all but I need to get back to the library, see you all around soon," Rick announced as he stood up from the table. Kate breathed a sigh of relief, he was leaving, it hadn't been that bad and she'd managed to sit there and act like she wasn't interested - hopefully the guy would take a hint now and move on to someone else. Someone who actually wanted him. As in not her.

"Oh and Kate," he whispered, leaning down to talk into her ear without being overheard. "Here's my number, call me." As he walked away from their table, Kate glanced down and noticed he'd pressed a scrap of paper with his number scrawled onto it into her hand. So much for moving on to the next girl.

"So are you gonna call him?" Lanie asked, munching on a carrot stick.

"Call who?" Kate asked, playing dumb.

Lanie and Adam shared a look. "Rick, obviously," Lanie harrumphed. "We aren't stupid, we saw him give you his number."

Kate rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not going to call him."

"Why not?" Lanie and Adam asked in unison.

"Because I'm not interested, that's why."

"Oh come off it," Lanie scoffed. "The guy is hot, even you can't deny that. And he's into you, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that I don't want to be just another one of Rick Rodgers' conquests. I don't want to be 'one of those girls' you know, it's not a club I signed up to join when we looked around last week," Kate said, hoping her voice didn't betray how she really felt. It wasn't that she wanted him..she just didn't not want him either. God he was infuriating and cocky and a jackass and..and..and hot. Like, really hot. His broad chest was to die for in itself, never mind the bulging biceps and toned shoulders. And oh god those eyes, she could stare into them for hours and never get bored.

Oh hell she was screwed.

As if Kate didn't think she was doomed enough as it was, that night she couldn't sleep. Her mind was flooded with images of Rick and his stupid damn eyes. Lanie had dropped off over an hour ago, the room filled with the sound of her soft breathing as she had a night filled with dreams and rest. But not Kate, oh no, she was wide awake and trying desperately to think of anything other than the guy who had wormed his way into her head. Not that she'd would ever give him the satisfaction of knowing he had got to her though, never in a million years. He was better off thinking she wasn't interested and hopefully he'd finally get bored and move on to his next victim.

Lanie had spent the evening trying to convince her of the advantages of dating Rick and she had to admit, a few of them would be beneficial to her but the cons far outweighed the pros. It's not like she'd even be dating him exclusively, he'd have a few others on the go too and Kate Beckett was not going to settle for that, she deserved more that that.

What she needed was a distraction, to find a nice guy who wouldn't mess her about and flirt with ten other girls in front of her and expect her to be fine with it..perhaps she could ask Lanie to help her, or maybe Adam knew someone he could hook her up with. She could go on a date, do it all properly and forget all about Rick Rodgers. Yeah, that's what she'd do - he might be used to getting his own way but not this time, this time he wasn't getting the girl.

As she finally drifted off to sleep, Kate conveniently forgot that she still had Rick's number under the lamp on her bedside table, she just hadn't been able to bring herself to tear it up and throw it away.

Not that that meant anything, obviously.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick notes: there's only a four ear age gap between Castle and Beckett (18/22) and not ten. Johanna is alive and she isn't going to be dying in January, but it may happen at a later date. Rick doesn't currently have a boon published but it will happen whilst he's at college, along with the name change.


End file.
